Why the Generals Will Root for Man U

The guy selling spears of chilled guava down the street sports a Chelsea football jersey. Everywhere in soccer-mad Bangkok, in fact, people wear garments proclaiming their affiliation with one or another English Premier League team. But one jersey you're unlikely to spot? That of Manchester City. It's not because City has struggled, unsuccessfully, for three decades now to emerge from the shadow of its more moneyed crosstown rival, Manchester United. Even Birmingham's lackluster Aston Villa, after all, maintains a dogged fan base in Thailand's capital. No, the reason Manchester City is taboo in Bangkok is because its new owner...